'Consider rubbish disposal plan'

Councils should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to impose "pay-as-you-throw" schemes to charge householders for rubbish disposal, the Local Government Association has said.

And the body - which represents 400 councils in England and Wales - said authorities should adopt the controversial schemes only where they were sure they had local support, would not result in an overall increase in council tax and were matched by tough measures to tackle fly-tipping.

Environment Secretary David Miliband is understood to be considering the introduction of pay-as-you-throw, in order to encourage waste reduction and recycling.

But critics have warned that levying charges according to the amount of rubbish thrown away by households will increase the amounts of money taken by local government and will encourage fly-tipping.

LGA chairman Lord Bruce-Lockhart said: "If the Government brings in 'save-as-you-throw' laws, it should be councils who decide whether to introduce the system.

"It is vital that any authority thinking of introducing save-as-you-throw should first make sure it has public support, that there'll be no overall increase in council tax and measures are in place to prevent fly-tipping.

"Councils are listening to local residents and taking action over their concerns about protecting the environment and helping tackle climate change. It is councils, working with local people, who can decide how best to increase recycling rates.

"Even though two out of three people polled in a survey by the LGA said that they would back a save-as-you-throw scheme, the Association favours such initiatives only when a council has checked whether its own residents are happy with such a move.

"Britain is the dustbin of Europe, with more rubbish being thrown into landfill than any other country on the continent.

"For decades people have been used to being able to throw their rubbish away without worrying about environmental consequences or rising costs. Those days are now over."